


"Something Stupid"

by cyanisthenewblack



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Soft Ricky Bowen (HSM: The Series)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21954559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyanisthenewblack/pseuds/cyanisthenewblack
Summary: High School Musical: The Musical Series Fanfic: One Shot; Set during 1x07 at Ashlynn's party.  (AU in the sense that Gina did not get the phone call from her Mom and Ricky did not leave the party)Carlos suggests a game of "Duet Roulette" for the group to play.  Ricky and Nini get paired together and have to sing a song that hits close to home.It's just some RxN fluff!(This is my first time writing a fanfic in about ten years, I am totally open to feedback/ideas as I am on a bit of a creative bend these days!)
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Kudos: 134





	"Something Stupid"

The buzz of multiple conversations filled Ashlynn's home with excitement and warmth. The group had just played Carlos' entertaining creation "High School Musical: The Choosical", which had been a success. They had been playing for at least an hour before the game started to dwindle down. Naturally, a few smaller conversations started to form on different areas of the main floor. 

Big Red was now searching Ashlynn's fridge for lactose-free milk, as he had found Candy Cane Hot Chocolate mix in her cupboard and was determined to make it (hot water was not a viable option, according to Big Red's parents).

"Do you think we can uber eats lactose free milk to your house?" Big Red called from the kitchen. Ashlynn rolled her eyes playfully, a very evident smile had crept across her face as she called back from the living room, "You can try!"

Gina and Ricky were sitting in the corner of the living room sharing one of the comfier lounge chairs, with Gina's legs sprawled over Ricky's lap. They were speaking in a low tone to each other, evidently not wanting their conversation to be heard by the others. 

Nini was helping Carlos and Sebastian put the game away, stealing occasional glances in Ricky and Gina's direction. At one point, Gina leaned in close to Ricky's ear to whisper something and Nini’s hand haphazardly missed the bag she was putting the pieces back into, resulting in them scattering across the floor.

Carlos let out an exaggerated gasp as he gestured at the mess on the floor. “Careful! Chad and Sharpay are very fragile!”

Nini snapped back into the moment, her eyes averting from the living room chair to the pieces on the floor. “Oh... I’m sorry, Chad and Sharpay.” Nini voiced weakly as she kneeled to the floor to help, not realizing that Carlos had already frantically picked the pieces up from the ground. 

Noticing Nini’s delayed reaction and subdued tone, Carlos placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and lowered his voice. “Sweetie, are you okay? It is unusual that someone’s high-” he paused to chuckle at his pun before continuing, “wears off this quickly from the exhilarating High School Musical: The Choosical.”

Nini shifted her gaze to the ground timidly as she tried to collect her words mentally – otherwise she was certain just gibberish would come out.

“Uh yeah, I’m just tired… you know, overdid it on the turkey.” Nini internally grimaced at how lame she sounded.

Carlos nodded sympathetically. “Preach, girl.” He paused for a moment before his voice raised to max volume. “OKAY GUYS IT’S TIME FOR ANOTHER GAME!” He clapped twice, indicating for those who had scattered to gather back into the living room.

Ricky straightened his back in the chair slightly and Gina slowly removed her legs from their place over his lap as the group slowly gathered back into the living room.

Carlos cleared his throat. “Guys, I know it’s a holiday but in the spirit of being thankful for our undeniable talent – here’s the perfect chance to utilize it.” 

The room was silent, as the others glanced quizzically at each other with no idea what he was getting at.

“Who’s heard of Duet Roulette?” 

Sebastian beamed at Carlos’ suggestion, and some faint murmurs of “yeah’s” and “ouu”s echoed across the room.

“Since we have an even number, the pairings will work out perfectly. Of course, partners will be picked out of a hat, to keep things interesting.” Nini could have sworn Carlos winked in her direction, but she shook it off. “The songs will also be picked out of a separate hat.”

“First order of business,” Carlos continued, “Song choices! I’ll be nice and take some suggestions… we definitely need a power track in the mix.”

Excitement quickly spread across the room and Gina piped up as she stood out of her chair, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T!” 

Carlos pointed in her direction. “Sold!”

He paused to write the song title down. “How about… a heartbreak song?”

“Ooh,” Big Red chimed in. “Something by the heartbreak queen Taylor Swift?”

Murmurs of pondering and disagreement began and Ashlynn put a soft hand on his shoulder and responded, “Nice suggestion, but I think this one should go to the real queen of heartbreak.” Dramatic Pause. “Adele.”

Sebastian let out a “YASSS” and Carlos gave a strong nod of approval, as he lowly sang “Hello…it’s me…” Quickly, everyone agreed that was a solid choice in the heartbreak category.

A puzzled look sprung across Ricky’s face. “Wait.. are any of these songs actually duets?”

Carlos placed a hand over his own heart and sighed. “Oh, sweetie. Any song can be a duet if you know how to harmonize! In a room with such grand talent, I doubt we will have an issue.”

Gina patted Ricky on the head as he gave a slow nod in response.

Carlos continued with his brainstorming. “Okay, okay… now we need a meme song. You know, like Soulja Boy or Gangnam Style. BUT- the catch is they will also have to perform the appropriate dance, if there is one.”

EJ piped in. “In that case, Soulja Boy. I would love to see some of you guys do that dance.” He smirked slightly before his expression went blank. “Watch it be me who gets that one.”

Carlos giggled as he proceeded to write down that song choice.

“Last but not least... we need a cute romantic song. Let’s try to make this selection a real duet, ‘cause we can.”

The room was quiet for a moment as the group pondered on a worthy duet option.

“Oh!” Ashlynn piped up, “what’s that super sweet one from Glee?”

Carlos stared back at her blankly for a moment. “Um – all of them, pretty much?!”

Ashlynn waved her hand at him as she continued to think. “That older song that Sam and Brittany sang by the Sinatra’s!”

Sebastian widened his eyes in excitement. “Something Stupid!”

Ashlynn snapped her fingers. “That’s the one.”

Carlos wrote it down and sighed with relief. “Great! Now that’s all said and done, the fun begins.”

Nini smiled slightly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She was internally wishing that this random hat draw would not turn out awkwardly for her. She had 7 potential duet partners, and she was hoping that a certain two or three of them would not be the name she was pulling out of that hat. 

Carlos decided that he would pick his partner first, as he did not include his name in the hat. Fumbling his hand in the first hat, he finally pulled out a name and read it out happily. “Gina! You can do the honors of picking the song out of the hat.” He said in a quieter tone under his breath, “For heaven’s sake, not Soulja Boy.”

Gina clapped enthusiastically and got up to pick the song name out of the hat. She squealed when she opened the piece of paper and shouted “R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Let’s go!”

Nini breathed a short sigh of relief that one of her three options had already been chosen. She glanced over at Ricky again, whom she noted did not look disappointed that Gina had already been chosen. Her mouth twisted slightly, shaking the thought out of her head as she realized she was truly overthinking the situation.

Carlos and Gina slayed their performance, as expected. The whole room cheered as Carlos picked out the next person to go. “EJ!” He cooed, as EJ got up to pick his partner’s name out of the hat. Nini felt her heartbeat quicken as she awaited his next words. 

“Ashlynn!” EJ high-fived his cousin, letting her pick the song out of the hat. 

“If it’s the romantic one, I will puke right here, right now.” She joked, as she pulled the paper from the hat, laughing and covering her eyes as she called out “Soulja Boy!”

Everyone laughed as EJ shook his head as he muttered, “I knew it.”

Nini was already feeling much more relieved as the performances went on, and then realized the next choice out of the hat would seal her fate, so she took a deep breath as the next pair was chosen.

It was Sebastian and Big Red. Her heart fluttered as she realized by default, who her partner was. She then cringed slightly as she realized both songs left were of a romantic nature. Nini then found herself thinking: Why couldn’t they have been left with Soulja Boy?!

Big Red pulled out “Hello”. At least Nini and Ricky’s song would not be a heavy hitting emotion-fest.

Most of that performance was a blur for Nini, which she had wished was not the case since Big Red belting out Adele was quite a sight to see.

Nini glanced back over to Ricky, who had been laughing at his friend’s dramatic belting out of “Hello”.

Carlos stood up, still laughing at the performance that had just occurred to say “Finally we have the remaining two – Nini and Ricky and the only song left to sing is “Something Stupid.””

Nini and Ricky stood up slowly from their spots in the room and apprehensively approached the centre of the room. 

EJ mouthed “Is this rigged?” to Gina across the room in which she responded with a smirk and mouthed back, “It’s something stupid.”

Carlos approached them in the centre of the room, putting his hands on Ricky and Nini’s shoulders. “This should be a breeze for you guys, it’s just like rehearsal!” Carlos turned away, and then turned back to them slowly. “I swear, this was not rigged.” They both smiled at him sheepishly, mumbling responses along the lines of “Of course” and “I’m sure”.

His point was valid, they sing romantic songs together in rehearsal on a daily basis – it shouldn’t feel strange. But that was Troy and Gabriella. This was Ricky and Nini. 

Nini could have been overanalyzing again, but it seemed the room went unnaturally quiet with anticipation while the prelude started playing.

“Let’s do this.” Ricky stated in a matter-of-fact tone. 

Nina nodded and responded, “Just like rehearsal.” She shifted away to create some space between them faced her body slightly towards Carlos and Sebastian. Was Ricky really good at playing it cool all of a sudden? Or did he no longer care, since he had her now?

Ricky mimicked her “staging”, (or was it blocking?) as Miss Jenn had taught them, to face away from the centre of the room and towards Gina’s direction as they began to sing the song.

“I know I stand in line, until you think you have the time  
To spend an evening with me  
And if we go someplace to dance, I know that there's a chance  
You won't be leaving with me”

Sebastian leaned over to Carlos to whisper, “Doesn’t their stance remind you of Troyella at the beginning of the Start of Something New?” Carlos’s mouth dropped and he nodded excitedly in agreement, as if it had been intentional.

“And afterwards we drop into a quiet little place  
And have a drink or two  
And then I go and spoil it all  
By saying something stupid like "I love you"

Nini felt her cheeks flush as she sang the last line, not daring to look Ricky’s way. This was all too familiar. The frozen, deer-in-headlights look in Ricky’s eyes when she had said those words before the summer flashed back in her memory. 

“I can see it in your eyes, that you despise the same old lies  
You heard the night before  
And though it's just a line to you  
For me it's true, it never seemed so right before”

Nini had not noticed that Ricky had slowly faced back towards the centre of the room as he was singing, slowly starting to close the gap between them. Nini slightly turned to face him and her face flashed an expression of surprise, as she did not expect Ricky to have moved closer to her. She took note that he seemed more relaxed than he was every time she stole a glance at him this evening.

“I practice every day to find some clever lines to say  
To make the meaning come through  
But then I think I'll wait until the evening gets late  
And I'm alone with you  
The time is right your perfume fills my head  
The stars get red and oh, the night's so blue  
And then I go and spoil it all  
By saying something stupid like "I love you"

As they continued to sing, Nini mustered up the courage to lock her gaze on Ricky and move slowly towards him, as he did the same. The feelings of awkwardness, disappointment and hurt that she was feeling earlier had faded into the background as the song went on. The lyrics genuinely felt as if she had written them herself. Nini almost felt hypnotized, her heart burning as they both did not take their eyes off each other as they sang with conviction.

“The time is right your perfume fills my head  
The stars get red and oh, the night's so blue  
And then I go and spoil it all  
By saying something stupid like "I love you"  
I love you  
I love you  
I love you”

By the last time they sang “I love you”, they were standing together with merely inches of space between them. Ricky’s thumb caressed her cheek and she placed her hand softly over his. It felt as if it was just them two in the room, until Big Red’s voice interrupted the pleasant silence with “Just kiss already!”

Nini and Ricky immediately stepped away from each other awkwardly as the room erupted in clapping and cheering, aside from Gina’s half-hearted single clap and EJ unconcernedly scrolling through his phone. “Thank you,” Ricky waved his hand, and Nini was unsure if the thank you was directed at her or the audience, so she did a mini curtsy towards the audience. 

Anxious to avoid the aftermath of her performance, Nini quickly walked towards the kitchen for a glass of water. She did not want to face Gina or EJ’s disapproval, even though she knew in the bottom of her heart she had nothing to feel guilty about. Her thoughts had been jumbled about Ricky for days and quite frankly, the duet did not help clear anything up. She took a deep breath as she poured herself a glass of water, turning around to lean against the kitchen counter. As she took a sip, she noticed Ricky leaning against the kitchen doorway. 

“Hey,” Ricky spoke softly, also picking up a glass from the cupboard and pouring water into it. Nini pat the spot next to her on the counter and Ricky leaned beside her, and sighed deeply.

“Everything okay?” Nini turned her head towards him, with an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah… just thinking about that song.” Ricky replied earnestly, returning her glance.

Nini nodded slowly, biting her lip nervously. “What about it?” 

Ricky looked into the distance, opening his mouth to answer and then closing it again, before taking a deep breath. “I just..” He trailed off, dropping his gaze to the ground before meeting her glance again. “I liked it.”

Nini let out a giggle at the simplicity of his statement. “So did I.”

They both let out another relaxed laugh in unison, the air dissolving the tension that seemed to have been building up for weeks. Her pinky finger that was resting on the counter shifted a millimeter in his direction and was ever so slightly touching his. Who knew that the slightest touch could be charged with so much electricity? Neither of them moved their hand, as they allowed themselves to bask in the small, simple moment.

\--


End file.
